


Juliet

by ellarunciter



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Shakespearean Tragedy, i'm not OK when it comes to these two, just a mess tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:08:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellarunciter/pseuds/ellarunciter
Summary: A few headcanons about Rick & Ren that somehow turned into a ficlet.
Relationships: Rick Macy/Kieren Walker
Kudos: 1





	Juliet

It’s 2006 and they’re studying Shakespeare.

After school, they wander off into the woods, Rick whining about their homework, Ren patiently listening. By the time they reach the cave, he’s on a full rant:   
  


“And Romeo and Juliet? That’s bollocks, mate! Why’d Romeo kill himself?”

Ren’s lighting the candles and just says: “Because he thought that Juliet was dead?”

“Right, but then she wasn’t! And even if she _was_ dead, I mean, why would he do that? Fuckin’ twat!”

Ren’s eyes shine dark and huge in the dim light as he turns to face him.

“I don’t know, man. If you died-”

Rick can’t deal with those eyes, with the soft look on Ren’s face, with the sweet danger of his words if he finishes that sentence, so he puts on his arrogant face instead. “I’m never gonna die, mate. Ever.”

Ren smiles at that. “Is that a promise?”

“It’s a warning. I mean it. And even if I died, I’d come back for you”, Rick chuckles.

“What? Like a zombie? You’d come back for my brains?” 

“Exactly like a zombie!”. Rick bares his teeth, turns his hands into claws, and crawls towards Ren. “Braaaaaains…” he moans as he pretends to attack him. They fall and play-fight in the tiny space of the cave. Ren’s never been a fighter, but he manages to overpower Rick by tickling him, while he still pretends to try and bite him, both laughing.

And then Ren stops fighting, goes completely still. And Rick does finally bite him, softly, on the side of the neck. Ren’s eyes shine dark and hungry as he cups his face on both hands, and then their mouths collide and their hands are all over each other.

They will walk back home in silence, but it will not be an awkward silence. It never is for them. 

  
  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It’s 2007 and it's Jem’s birthday. Her father’s bought her a new film, she unwraps the DVD and squeals in excitement. _Romeo + Juliet_ , says the cover.

Rick thinks it doesn’t suit her (metalhead, rebellious Jem), but he doesn’t argue when Ren agrees to watch it with her and their parents. It’s a Wednesday afternoon and Rick’s not in a hurry to go back to his own home. They make popcorn and try not to laugh at Jem’s dramatic sighs over Leo DiCaprio. 

“I mean, he’s cute, but I’m partial to Benvolio”, chuckles Ren.

Rick nearly chokes on his soda when he hears Jem answer: “Of course you are, you’ve always been into jocks, haven’t you”.

Ren’s mum seems to notice Rick’s ears turning red and adds her own quip: “Listen here, children: the most beautiful man in Verona is Mercutio, and you can’t argue with me on this.”

“Mercutio… the one in the dress?” babbles Rick.

“Well he’s got the legs to pull it off.” Mr Walker is deadpan serious as he speaks, which earns him giggles from the kids and a wink from his wife.

“Are you staying for tea, Rick?”, asks Mrs Walker.

He does stay for tea. It’s after dark when Ren walks him home. Not all the way to his house, obviously, because his dad will kill him if he knows they still hang around together.  _ He’d rather have me drinking beer and harassing older girls than watching a film at the Walkers’ _ , he realises.

“Ren?”

“Mmm-hmm”

“I really liked it today. With your family and all. And the film, and everything.”

“I thought you hated Shakespeare”

“I do! But, I mean, it was okay. And your parents are really cool”

Ren looks lost in thought. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess they are”.

“See you tomorrow at school”, Rick says, for lack of a better farewell, one maybe involving kisses. They’re at the end of his street now.

They’ll see each other tomorrow, and after school they’ll sneak out to the cave in the woods.

“REN + RICK”, Ren will write in chalk, on the stone wall. “4 EVER”, Rick will add.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
  


It’s 2007 and it’s Rick’s birthday. Ren’s present is a mixtape CD.

He’s made him half a dozen of them during the years. He used to make covers and even little leaflets for them: drawings and pictures and bits of favourite lyrics and the tracklist with the names of the songs.

Now it’s a blank, unmarked CD, as they’ve all been since Rick’s father found one of them and threw a fit and tore it to pieces and banned Ren from their house forever.

“Is there a bonus track?” Rick asks.

“Of course there is”.

It’s kind of a bitter joke by now. Ren always includes a hidden track in his mixes, one that’s not in the tracklist, that’s usually got nothing to do with the style of the rest. “Just to keep you on your toes”, he says. Now there’s no tracklists and no covers, but Rick expects it all the same.

“I’ll listen to the whole thing tonight, before going to sleep, I promise”, Rick says. Right now, he has to leave, because his father’s taking him to The Legion for his first legal pint.

He will listen to the whole thing in bed, most of it new-ish music: he will recognise the three songs he mentioned liking from Muse’s last album. But the last song on the CD sounds old, starts with just a guitar and a guy singing:

_ A lovestruck Romeo _

_ Sings the streets a serenade _

_ Laying everybody low _

_ With a lovesong that he made… _

He’ll fall asleep to it, thinking he needs to ask Ren who the band is. They sound old, but legit.

  
  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
  


It’s 2008 and they’re drinking warm Coors at the base. 

One of the Yanks has a guitar and is playing tunes in the canteen. The men gather to listen, enjoying the relative cold of the desert night. Rick’s unit is going out tomorrow, escorting a convoy through the dusty roads near Kabul. He doesn’t want to go to bed, stays up with the lads for some quiet banter.

It takes him a while to recognize the song, but when he does he struggles to pretend that he’s listening to his mates.

_ Juliet, _

_ The dice was loaded from the start, _

_ And I bet, _

_ And you exploded in my heart, _

_ And i forget, I forget… _

He watches the Yank with the guitar, and when he sees him pack up and say goodnight to his friends, he excuses himself and follows him outside. 

“Sir? Sir, excuse me?”

“Am I your sergeant, kiddo?”, the man laughs. “Don’t call me sir”.

“Right. Want a fag? I mean, a cig.”

“Sure.”

They smoke in silence for a bit. 

“That song you were playing earlier, in the canteen? I mean you played a few, but. The one about Romeo and Juliet.”

“Mmm-hmm. You liked it?”

“I… i heard it a while ago, but I don’t know the band”.

“Aah, man. That’s the Dire Straits. You’re probably too young to know them anyway.”

“It’s a good song.”

“Yes it is.”

They take a couple more puffs each, walking by the barracks. 

“So, you got a Juliet back home, young man?”

Rick doesn’t know what’s gotten into him when he hears himself answer: “More of a Romeo, actually”. But the other soldier smiles, and then asks, “Does he serenade you? Underneath your window?”

“Something like that.”  _ He makes me CDs and he hides love songs in them _ , he thinks.

“Aah, that’s good. That's very good. Then you listen to me. You stay safe out there tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and you make sure you make it back to him.”

“I will, sir. I mean, mate. Good night.”

“Good night”.

He goes to bed and dreams of Ren wearing armour shoulder pieces too big for him. Tomorrow he will go out in the heat and the dust and as soon as he can he will get out of this fucking place and this fucking war and make it back to Ren, wherever he is now.

Only he won’t.

He will die in the desert tomorrow, and as he lies there, dizzy as the blood drains from his body, he will think of the Dire Straits.

_ There’s a place _

_ For us. _

_ You know the movie song. _

_ When you gonna realise _

_ That it was just that the time was wrong? _

_ Juliet… _

  
  



End file.
